MYSpace aims to identify critical periods for the development and possible recovery of multimodal spatial representations in sighted and blind children, and to clarify the role of vision in these processes. During the reporting period, the project addressed its objectives through behavioral, neurophysiological, methodological, and translational studies. For Objective 1, we investigated auditory and tactile spatial processing across infancy and childhood, showing that vision is crucial for the development of tactile remapping into external space, whereas auditory spatial coding is less dependent on vision early in life. This was supported by evidence of early multisensory spatial perception in visually impaired infants [1], EEG findings showing that only sighted infants display neural signatures of external-space tactile remapping [2], and behavioral studies confirming the importance of visual experience for the maturation of body-centred and allocentric spatial coding [3].
For Objectives 2 and 3, we examined how visual experience shapes multisensory integration and its neural correlates. Results showed that multisensory spatial integration follows different developmental trajectories in blind and sighted children, with blindness affecting audio-tactile integration, spatial-temporal coupling, body representation, and the interaction between somatosensory and motor systems [4–7].We found that blindness alters the developmental trajectory of sleep-related neural activity, with atypical spindle maturation linked to perceptual and motor outcomes [8]. We also showed that congenital visual impairment affects early goal-directed action, leading to longer pick-up times and different reach-to-grasp strategies [9], and further demonstrated its influence on auditory context dependency [10] and on the role of sound in disambiguating visual perception [11].
For Objective 4, the project generated important translational outputs, including the Proof of Concept iReach, a new multisensory device for assessing and training emerging sensorimotor abilities in infants with visual impairments [12]. Together with new methodological tools and the project’s theoretical synthesis on spatial development with and without vision [13], these outputs represent a key exploitation pathway of MYSpace.
Overall, MYSpace demonstrated the key role of vision in early development, identified relevant windows for intervention, and generated both major scientific outputs and innovative tools for clinical translation.
[1] Gori et al., Current Biology (2021) Multisensory Spatial Perception in Visually Impaired Infants
[2] Gori et al., iScience (2025) Vision drives the neural construction of a two-stage hierarchy of spatial processing in infancy
[3] Bollini et al., Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (2021); Bollini et al., JEP: Human Perception and Performance (2023)
[4] Casado-Palacios et al., Brain Sciences (2025) Cross-Modal Interactions and Movement-Related Tactile Gating: The Role of Vision
[5] Coelho et al., Neuroscience (2024) Hand and Foot Overestimation in Visually Impaired Human Adults
[6] Tonelli et al., Developmental Science (2026) The Development of Audio-Tactile Spatial Integration: Unraveling Vision’s Contribution
[7] Amadeo et al., Journal of Neuroscience (2026) Space Impacts Temporal Processing via a Visual-Dependent Spatially Organized Neural Architecture
[8] Vitali et al., NeuroImage (2024) Blindness Affects the Developmental Trajectory of the Sleeping Brain
[9] Petri et al., Developmental Science (2025) Impact of Congenital Visual Impairment on Early-Life Exploration
[10] Tonelli et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2025) The Influence of Blindness on Auditory Context Dependency
[11] Gori et al., Current Biology (2024) Disambiguating Vision with Sound
[12] Gori et al., Frontiers in Psychology (2025) iReach: New Multisensory Technology for Early Intervention in Infants with Visual Impairments
[13] Gori, Amadeo & Bremner, Nature Reviews Psychology (2026) The development of spatial perception with and without visual experience
